 Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog!
When you woke up this morning, many of you probably turned on the television to catch the latest headlines and the traffic before heading out to work. Yet this morning routine was not always possible, as many of you probably know! The invention of television, and eventually color television, has changed quite a lot in our society. Although I cannot recall a time when there were not televisions, it is possible that many of you can. Before television everyone got their news (be it real or fake wars of the world) through radio. When the first TVs came along, they were small tube ones similar to the one shown in today’s picture. One constant through the years is that even back in the mid-1900s televisions were still quite costly. I remember hearing stories about how people would gather around their neighbor’s tiny television set, the only one on the block, in order to watch big events such as the Moon landing. It wouldn’t be long, however, until color televisions were invented and shortly thereafter became widespread. In hindsight, it really is impressive that over roughly 50 years television has become a staple in the American household and has had a massive effect on all of our lives. There are many ways that television has effected all of us, and I’m sure you readers can think of many! But did you know that apparently people only began to dream in color when color TVs were created? It is an interesting thing to think about, since we could see color long before a TV could display it. Why would we only start to dream in color then? Of course, not everyone does dream in color, so maybe people simple started to report it more. We may never know! Do you have any memories of television and how it impacted your life? Perhaps you can remember the first time your family got a TV? Let us know in the comments and come back next week for another Hometown Heritage blog!
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 Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog!
As many of you know, Perry is a town that flourished because of the railroad. The railroad was so prevalent here that we have many photographs in our collection that show the trains, the tracks, and more. In fact, Perry used to have so many trains that came in and out of town that we had our own roundhouse! Although the number of roundhouses is not clear from our records, we do know that one roundhouse used to be located where the elementary school is currently. What is interesting about the roundhouse, however, is that it was not just used as a place to gather trains! Readers, do you have any guesses as to what else might have happened at the old roundhouse? If you guessed that people used to go skeet shooting at the roundhouse, then you would be right! According to the description of this photo, people would go out on Sundays and meet at the roundhouse where they would do some skeet shooting in the 1940s. What amazes me most about this is that guns were allowed so close to a place of work. If the shooters were fooling around too much, they could have injured one of the railroad workers! Perhaps this was allowed because the workers were not working during Sundays? Or maybe the railroad workers were in on it and allowed people to do this without the consent of the managers. It seems only someone who was there would know! In any case, it looks like this is what people would do for fun during the 1940s. Readers, what do you do for fun on the weekends? Let us know in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog!  Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog!
Inflation has affected many products over the years, some more obvious than others. Gasoline is a good example with prices averaging around $2.30 per gallon today. In decades past, they were as low as $.05 a gallon. However, there are some products and services that you may not realize have been affected by inflation! One such service is shown in today’s picture, barber services! This picture is of Jim Godown in his barbershop was taken in 1929. How much have the prices changed? You might be surprised to know! Back in 1929, around 100 years ago, a haircut was only $.25. According to an inflation calculator, if haircuts were the same price in 2017 it would only be $3.56! A shave was also significantly cheaper. In 1929, it was only $.10, which would only be $1.42 in 2017! Imagine walking into your local hair salon or barbershop and getting a haircut for less than the price of a meal at McDonalds. Of course, none of these numbers takes into account the rising costs of living expenses so it is unreasonable to think that we could return to the age of super cheap haircuts. The average price of a haircut in 2017 is $15, which means that at the 1929 price a single barber would have to do 5 times as many haircuts in a day just to make a living! Of course, if prices had stayed the same, I imagine getting a bad haircut would not be as much of a letdown since it was so cheap (you get what you pay for, after all). Have you ever gotten a bad haircut? Let us know in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! |
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This website is possible with the support of the
Dallas County Foundation
This website is possible with the support of the
Dallas County Foundation